Chapter 29
It was the freakin' coolest hotel ever! A multistoried looking brownstone reject but it had a giant vertical marquee that ran a full three stories. The Astoria Hotel was written on it in glorious neon. Seven stars, though only six were lit. But you could see that sucker blocks away.
And then they went into the lobby.
Neon Nirvana! It was everywhere. In the shapes of shoes, palm trees, dirigibles, all sorts of things. Dean saw Sam make a face, scrunching his eyes as if all the neon bothered him. Sammy never could appreciate the finer things. Ignoring him, Dean snuggled up to the front desk, admiring its curves framed in red and blue neon stripes. Gorgeous!
The elevator was even better. There was neon of different colors all over it, and it reflected off the mirrors on the sides. Made him feel like he'd boarded a space ship or something. Fantastic!
But when the elevator doors opened he could feel disappointment nipping at his heels. The hallway was dark paneled wood, with dark wood doors, no neon to be seen. The only upside was that each door had the number printed on red cutouts of the four suits in a card pack. He didn't dare get his hopes up about the room itself.
He shouldn't have worried. It was as if they'd taken the details straight out of his mind. If he'd had a real camera, he would have taken pictures.
The set up was simple. One big room with sleeper sofas plus chairs and tables a plenty, and the bathroom off to the side. Yet what was there was top notch. The entire ceiling was covered in mirrors. There were these awesome lamps in red cloth made out like pyramids that looked sweet next to the black leather chairs. Brown and yellow tiger print wallpaper with a dark red carpet, the couch a bright ass lime green to keep you awake as you went about your business. Even big dark green cushions you could roll around with on the floor.
He couldn't believe Ruby was the one who'd picked this place. He really wasn't giving her due credit on things. Damn. "Can you believe this place? This rules!"
He saw Sam throw him a disbelieving look. "You didn't just say that."
"Oh, I did." It was the little touches that really made a place. Only thing missing was some magic fingers. He'd have to make a suggestion on that with the front desk. Dean stared up at the ceiling again. Damn, it was too bad there was no way he'd get to try the place out. This celibacy shit sucked!
He watched Sam's lip curl with distaste as he shuffled about the place.
Maybe he could fix that…
"Hey, uh, Sammy?"
"Yeah?" His brother had just turned on the light into the bathroom and quickly backed away as if it'd tried to bite him. Oh, looked like that might be awesome too!
"You know, since this body isn't mine, I've been really behaving myself, but…" He watched as Sam turned around to look at him a frown already growing on his face and Dean hadn't even got this out yet. He'd better step on it. "Would it be okay if I went ahead and used it for recreational purposes?"
Sam stared blankly at him for a moment then his whole face tried to crawl back as he stared at him with disgust. "Are you kidding me?"
Should have expected this. Dean shrugged. "Dude, it's not like I won't have to service it either way. So why not do it with a girl and have some fun instead of just my hand? I expect you to do the same for mine."
"I've been back for less than a day and you throw this at me? Jesus, Dean!"
He could have sworn his brother actually looked green around the gills. Dean stared at him in surprise. He hadn't thought it'd be that big a deal. "It's not like I was asking you to watch or something."
"Ugh! Would you just drop this already?" He flicked his hands around as if trying hard to get something off of them. "You can be so stupidly moronic at times."
Dean tried to suppress the spike of irritation that came with the proclamation but it wasn't having any of that. Dammit, he'd just asked a damn simple question. Trying to be 'sensitive' for once. For him. Why did Sam have to get all drama queen on him about it for? "Oh, right back at you."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" The tone of challenge was unmistakable.
His mistake. "You want to know what? I'll tell you what." Before he realized what he was doing, Dean was all up in his brother's personal space. He rather liked the feeling of looking down at him. Something he'd not been able to do since Sam turned sixteen. "It's you, after I've saved your ass and made sure you'll be taken care of, going off and stabbing me in the back by making a deal and getting your sorry ass thrown into the pit."
The anger that flashed across Sam's new face was hot and fierce, making his nostrils flare and his upper lip twitch with it. "I never asked you to do that for me!" He stepped in close putting them barely an inch apart from one another. "You had no right. If you'd just left things alone, I'd a never --" Sam's mouth clamped shut like a vault door. Fists coiled at his sides he stepped back and turned his back on him, his shoulders stiff.
Dean's irritation was snuffed out like a candle. "You'd never what?"
"I need to use the bathroom." Sam stomped off, and giving Dean only a glance at blood red dripping walls as he went inside, slammed the door closed, shutting him out.
That could have gone better.
Dammit, he just wasn't made for this shit. And though he couldn't quite say why, something about the thing Sam hadn't said gave him a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
